I've been with W.P. Dolle for about 10 years and their rates seem reasonable for what they cover but I'm starting to question if it's money wisely spent in consideration of less expensive home policies. Would love to know other people's opinions.

I never go out on a job without production providing an insurance cert which effectively means the premium I'm paying only covers the gear while it's sitting in my garage or going to/coming from a job. I haven't yet priced out home policies for my gear but I have had a home policy for a long time covering personal items like computers, clothing, dishes...general stuff. Can't remember the details (buried in a folder somewhere) but I think I'm probably paying something like $200/yr. to cover around $30-35K worth of property. If that same rate applies to my Steadicam gear then I'd be paying close to half what I'm paying W.P. Dolle.

Interesting thought about gear going under a home policy. Would that cover your gear while it's in transit to and from set? I'm not sure if home insurance extends to coverage while in an owned vehicle.

If an accident were to occur in transit home after production wraps, your gear may or may not covered under production's policy depending on the language in the COI. From working in a rental house, I've seen many different versions of COIs, and often certain language or expiration dates/times can mean holes in coverage. For example, if the policy expires at 10:00 AM and the gear return time is 10:00 AM, but the client is running late and gets into an accident on the way back, that gear may no longer be covered under that COI. Specific times don't typically show up on most COIs (usually only short-term binders), but it's something to be aware of if the expiration date is 2-16-17 and you wrap after midnight and are traveling home at 12:07 AM on 2-17-17.

Another note, slightly tangental however still important: Some other "gotchas" can pop up in the "description of operations" box. Again, these are mostly atypical but definitely worth reading carefully. One example that comes to mind is a COI that listed the rental house as having additional insured status (pertaining to liability insurance) only when the named insured (client) was "on premises". That sounded like the rental house would only be covered in terms of liability insurance if the client was physically in the rental house, meaning the rental house would not be covered if an accident were to occur outside the rental house (i.e. on set). We ended up speaking with the client's insurance agent, who said the additional insured status would follow the client wherever they went, though the agent was also somewhat unsure. We then called the rental house's insurance agent, who agreed that the "on premises" language sounded like a hole in coverage, so we ultimately requested the language be removed.

I would start by calling your home insurance agent and inquiring about coverage while gear is in transit. I would also gather a few COIs from past productions and take a look at the expiration dates and check for any language that could mean a lack of coverage. Typically larger production companies have a yearly policy and you may not be anywhere near the expiration date, but short-term binders will usually expire right when the show is set to wrap. Also make certain they are listing you as "loss payee" for property coverage, and as "additional insured" for liability coverage - otherwise they could argue the money should go to the production and not you. If you look into these, could you please post about your findings? I'm curious!

Another thing to consider - rental houses typically do not accept home property insurance if you need to rent gear, since it is different than production insurance. If you don't typically rent gear beyond what you own, that may not be a factor. For me, my property coverage on my WP Dolle policy doubles as rental insurance, which has come in handy a few times when production has asked that I also rent a camera package when DPing. Alternatively, a short-term binder would also work in this scenario.

Finally got around to calling my home insurance agent and they don't cover equipment used for business even though I told them I only want it covered while it's sleeping in my garage. I'll probably stick with WP Dolle but would be good to know about other potentially more affordable options considering the scenario in which I'm looking for coverage.